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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Total Spent: $100.00| Rating: 10

Pros:

very, very sharp stopped down a few

Cons:

few CA's open and stopped down a few

For portraits optimal

I use it for astronomic photography, too.

colors, contrast and sharpness very nice.

Best sharpness on f4.My best lens.

Highly recommended

shatz

Registered: January 2014Posts: 2

Pentax 50mm f/1.4 SMC P-FA review by shatz

Review Date: 1/28/2014

Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Total Spent: $250.00| Rating: 9

Pros:

from 1.8 sharp, from 2.4 really sharp, solid constructed, fast AF

Cons:

soft and CA at 1.4, not WR

I bought this lens for my K5II for portrait shots, its really usable in all aspects, even at 1.4 the images are good, contrast is a bit low and it cut look like it is a bit foggy, can be put in use greatly! betweens F2 and 8 pictures are really sharp, rich in contrast and all in all really good! if you dont have one, get one, its always a usefull lens!

Tord

Registered: September 2010Posts: 20

Pentax 50mm f/1.4 SMC P-FA review by Tord

Review Date: 9/5/2010

Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Total Spent: None indicated| Rating: 9

Pros:

Fast, cheap, and compact

Cons:

Very tiny focus ring

This is quite like the Pentax 50 I had 40 years ago, but it is optimized for a modern camera, and has autofocus, and an aperature ring, so you can set the aperature manually, if you want (excellent for 'dumb' extension tubes).

Slightly bigger than the Pentax pancakes, it has excellent sharpness and is faster than any Pentax pancake (to date).

I use it mostly reversed, for macro phtography, but it works well as a short tele as well!

phoxhill

Registered: December 2007Posts: 2

Pentax 50mm f/1.4 SMC P-FA review by phoxhill

Review Date: 2/20/2009

Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Total Spent: $262.00| Rating: 9

Pros:

Very sharp from f/4 to f/8 / ideal for protraits / cheap

Cons:

soft wide open

A very usefull small telephoto, sharp with a wonderfull bokeh.
Ideal for portraits but also flowers...
Even sports if you're close enough to the action
My best lens up to now!

Robert Kreutzmann

Registered: September 2008Posts: 1

Pentax 50mm f/1.4 SMC P-FA review by Robert Kreutzmann

Review Date: 9/1/2008

Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Total Spent: None indicated| Rating: 9

Pros:

Cons:

This is a top quality and rather cheap lens alternative to the highest quality and expensive lenses from the Pentax brand. I often use it as a all round lens under any situations; from the poor light indoor, in the sharp sunlight and in the portrait studio. See

Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Total Spent: $300.00| Rating: 8

Pros:

Cheap,

Cons:

Soft wide open

This lens is reasonably sharp from f2.8, but at wide open it is a bit soft. It is cheap, and for the price it is a good lens. If the extra cost is no issue, I prefer the 40mm limited lens, which is better in any aspect.

joekashi

Registered: January 2008Posts: 7

Pentax 50mm f/1.4 SMC P-FA review by joekashi

Review Date: 1/26/2008

Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Total Spent: $194.00| Rating: 9

Pros:

Small, very sharp, cheap, good short portrait or tele lens, very compact and light

Cons:

None

Build quality is more than adequate. This lens is a very nice addition to a Pentax bag. It's certainly a lot faster than the kit lens and also quite a bit sharper by F4.

amonsul

Registered: August 2007Posts: 1

Pentax 50mm f/1.4 SMC P-FA review by amonsul

Review Date: 8/15/2007

Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Total Spent: $200.00| Rating: 9

Pros:

fast, resolution, bokeh, cheap

Cons:

corner softness wide open

Nice lens. Some weakness if you use it wide open, but at medium apertures the lens is superb.
Buy it!

wavefunc

Registered: January 2007Posts: 5

Pentax 50mm f/1.4 SMC P-FA review by wavefunc

Review Date: 2/4/2007

Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Total Spent: $230.00| Rating: 9

Pros:

Excellent image quality, very fast aperture, great bokeh, small and light for the quality

Cons:

None that I've noticed, except that it's hard to find it in stock!

This was my first purchase after the 18-55 kit lens, and I was looking for a sharp lens with a bright aperture for low-light indoors stuff. This has fit those criterea well. Stopped down a couple stops it's about as sharp as you can get, and even wide open it's still not bad at all. The bokeh is very smooth and pleasing too.

If a 50mm is indeed what you want (it's more of a portrait lens / short telephoto for digital) then you can't go wrong with this lens. Personally, I think I would have made use of a 30mm more, but when I can use a 50, this is ideal.

mjbamigo

Registered: November 2006Posts: 4

Pentax 50mm f/1.4 SMC P-FA review by mjbamigo

Review Date: 1/14/2007

Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Total Spent: None indicated| Rating: 10

Pros:

Contrast, Color, and Sharpness

Cons:

slow focus for a prime, weird, plasticy body

This was an upgrade from my 15-55 kit lens. It is absolutely worth it. I miss the wide range, 50mm on a cropping DSLR makes it a right-up-in-your-face view on most things. Now that I'm been shooting with this, I think I'll start saving for a wider Pentax prime.

But I had no idea my *istDS could get such results. The pictures are sharp and contrasty. It's bright; the pictures, and even the viewfinder are much more light than with the 18-55mm. The photos seem to glow.

highly recommended.... (also consider one of Pentax's older versions. I have a beautiful 50mm f1.7 that also gets very nice results. Pentax, though, seems to have a tradition of building these things in a strange, plastic casing..)

nighthunter64

Registered: June 2006Posts: 5

Pentax 50mm f/1.4 SMC P-FA review by nighthunter64

Review Date: 1/12/2007

Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Total Spent: $219.00| Rating: 9

Pros:

Cheap, great opening, very sharp image.

Cons:

none so far

- Great for low light pictures.
- a little bit above average for built quality coz plastic feeling but its just a feeling great image quality!!!

dppa

Registered: December 2006Posts: 3

Pentax 50mm f/1.4 SMC P-FA review by dppa

Review Date: 12/23/2006

Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Total Spent: $223.00| Rating: 8

Pros:

Scharp, nice bokeh (but not great)

Cons:

lose manual focus ring

This is a very fine lens. A bit soft wide open, especialy in the corners, but stoped down (past f3.5) it's extremely sharp. On a digital SLR is becomes a nice portrait lens.

De manual focusring on my sample is a bit lose and less damped than the manual focus lenses (K, M, A)

kjao

Registered: February 2006Posts: 1

Pentax 50mm f/1.4 SMC P-FA review by kjao

Review Date: 2/4/2006

Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Total Spent: $220.00| Rating: 9

Pros:

good bokeh, sharp image

Cons:

none

FA50mm/f1.4 is one of my best lenses. It is a just a little soft wide open but very good for portraits (when used on DSLR). Stopped down one or two stops, the images are tack sharp!

Physically, it is quite small but dense than it looks. Built quality is very good, plastic body with metal mount. Manual focus ring is very smooth but not as good to use as Pentax's old A and M series.